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Meet Chef Ricky

Chef Ricky Moore – the self-professed evangelist of North Carolina seafood and James Beard Foundation winner for “Best Chef Southeast” – is the owner of the popular Saltbox Seafood Joint® in Durham, North Carolina – praised by Saveur as “a tiny but mighty seafood shack.” Taking inspiration from the famous wet markets in Singapore, Moore focuses purely on the food inspired by his native Carolina coast, and its traditional roadside fish shacks and camps. 

Moore opened Saltbox Seafood Joint® in Durham, NC in 2012. Accolades in Garden & Gun, Our State and Travel + Leisure followed, and in 2019, Moore debuted the Saltbox Seafood Joint® Cookbook – with 60 recipes celebrating his coastal culinary heritage. In 2020, as one of the region’s most admired chefs, Moore received his first nomination for “Best Chef” in the Southeast and Discover awarded Saltbox Seafood Joint® $25,000 as part of its #EatItForward campaign for black-owned restaurateurs. Today, Saltbox Seafood is included in MOFAD’s Black History Month exhibit, “African/American: Making the Nation’s Table.” And in 2007, as Executive Chef at Agraia in Washington DC (now known as Founding Farmers), Moore’s reputation earned him a spot competing against Chef Michael Symon on “Iron Chef America.” Today Moore continues to fulfill his lifelong dream as an entrepreneur, professional, and preserver of North Carolina fisherman and foodways, and serves on the Advisory Board for the NC Sea Grant.